Landing pages are great for businesses to generate awareness and showcase their offerings. But what’s not so great is investing time and money into it a landing page that doesn’t generate any traffic or leads. Even the greatest landing page can be overlooked if it isn’t optimized to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).

As a growing small business, chances are you wear many hats and every dollar and minute counts. So, how can you generate more brand awareness, stay within budget, and put some time back into your day? Here are 5 SEO hacks to increase landing page traffic:

Tip #1: Be Active on Social Media

People don’t just Google or Bing a company in 2019, they also search Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Customers want to purchase from companies who are transparent, relatable, and active on social media. That means regularly posting valuable content, engaging with your audience, and solving their problem.

When searching Starbucks on Google, their Twitter and Facebook accounts are ranked #2 and #3, respectively. Now more than ever, social media profiles are just as important as your website and landing page. Don’t fall behind the curve, be ahead of it.

Gif: Starbucks Google search results

Tip #2: Get Your Business Listed in Online Directories and Review Sites

List your business on Yelp, Google, Facebook, Trip Advisor, and any other relevant platforms on which your clients are potentially searching for you. Don’t think it’s important? Research shows that 91 percent of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

Whether you sell footwear or provide car detailing services, you should be on review sites. It’s best practice to assume your potential customers are reading online reviews before committing to a purchase. according to "The eMarketer Ecommerce Insights Report," by Bizrate Insights, nearly 38 percent of customers between the ages of 18-29 check online reviews before making a purchase. Buyer’s remorse is a very real thing, thus providing a platform for reviews can help build credibility and ease the decision-making process for your potential customers.

Tip #3: Revisit Your Keyword Strategy

Do a self audit of your keyword strategy, and ask yourself “Am I using the top keyword for the service or product I am trying to rank?”

If you own a lawn care business, consider searching “lawn care” or “lawn services” as a primary keyword for SEO. You can start your keyword research with Google Trends. Once you’ve entered your desired keyword, e.g. “lawn service,” you can download a CSV of related queries.

You’ll notice the top keyword in the CSV is “lawn service.” From there, go down the list and enter each related search term into Google Search. At the bottom of the results page you will see “Searches related to lawn service.” Plug those into your CSV file as well, and repeat for the first 20-25 keywords. After assembling your keyword list, you should begin including them in your headers, content body, and tags.

Tip #4: Optimize Your Website

Have your website responsive and optimized for mobile. There are some clients who still use 3G speeds on their phone, and in congested areas your internet speed can drop considerably. In July of 2018, Google rolled out “Speed Update” to give faster mobile sites better SEO rankings. Don’t let slow mobile be your downfall.

One of the best ways to speed up your website is to simplify it. Perform an audit of your site and ask yourself “Can I make my page more simple?” Simplicity is achieved by removing elements a site doesn’t need. Simple sites are often smaller, faster-loading, and offer a better user experience. It will deliver what the user needs and nothing more.

Simple sites can instill confidence, drive conversions, and look good. Speed has a direct effect on a business’ bottom-line, so simplicity will be more important than ever. Minimalism, flat design, and pageless designs are some of the ways simplicity will speed up sites in 2019.

Tip #5: Start Blogging

Blogging is great for businesses to showcase thought leadership and build credibility. It gives you an online presence that can help capture an audience looking for answers to a specific question or topic.

Write your blog and include keywords in appropriate places such as your header, body content, and tags. The more the better, but be careful to not spam your entire blog with a bunch of keywords.

Gif: Adding keyword tags to blog post

Wrapping Up

Optimizing SEO takes time but is well worth it. Soon enough, you’ll get into the groove of posting on social media, writing blogs, and knowing exactly where to include keywords, and how to tag certain content properly. If you still find yourself struggling with SEO or just don’t have the time, we can help. Get in touch and we’ll hook you up with a complimentary SEO consultation.